Marketing, websites and systems built for art galleries.
A gallery sells trust as much as art. Collectors want to see the work well photographed, understand who the artist is, and know the provenance and paperwork will be clean. Artists want to be represented seriously and paid on time. Most gallery sites do neither: a slideshow, a contact form, and a consignment ledger kept in a spreadsheet. We have built and operated an art and studio publishing property with a full consignment back office behind it, from the sales-tax permit and e-signed consignment agreements to fine-art insurance and an appraisal practice. We bring that to galleries, studios and consignment sellers: a site that presents the work with care, editorial that recognizes local artists on merit, and systems that make every sale, split and shipment traceable.
Questions this page answers
- Who is the best agency to market my art gallery
- Website design for an art gallery
- How do galleries sell art online
- Consignment agreement and inventory system for a gallery
- How to get collectors to visit a gallery
- Artlogic vs artcloud vs shopify for a gallery
What are you trying to grow?.
Pick the closest one. A senior operator reads every brief and replies within one business day.
Where growth is won or lost in art galleries.
A gallery is a consignment business that looks like a retail store. Almost nothing on the walls belongs to the gallery. The artist owns the work until it sells, the gallery keeps a share of the price, and the relationship on both sides runs on trust and paperwork. Collectors arrive in a few ways: they walk in during an opening, they follow an artist and find the gallery through them, or they are steered by a designer or an advisor buying for a client. The serious ones buy slowly and repeatedly, and the second and third purchases are worth far more than the whole opening night crowd.
The calendar runs on exhibitions. Each show is a launch with its own install, opening, press push and price list, and the rest of the month is quiet follow-up with the people who asked about a piece and did not buy. Fairs add a second rhythm: an expensive booth, crated work, and a stack of new contacts that goes cold if nobody writes within the week. Earlier marketing help usually fell down on tone and plumbing. Agencies sold galleries the boosted-post playbook they sold restaurants, and nobody connected inventory to the site, so sold work stayed listed and the wall label drifted from the price on the web.
We build galleries a collector-facing site that is also the front end of the consignment record. Availability, price and provenance come from the inventory system, so what a collector sees online matches what the wall label says. We manage the collector list as the primary channel, segmented by artist and price range, with previews before openings and personal follow-up after them. We write editorial that gives artists critical recognition rather than promotion, and we put the paperwork, from consignment agreements to bills of sale and artist statements, into a workflow so every sale settles cleanly and the artist is paid on schedule.
The problems we see in art galleries.
- 01
Work that photographs badly online.
Glare, warped edges and uncorrected color make a serious painting look like a poster. Collectors buying from a distance judge the piece and the gallery by the image, and most gallery sites give them a thumbnail and a price.
- 02
Consignment kept on paper.
Splits, retail prices, insurance values, loan periods and return dates live in a binder or a spreadsheet. When a piece sells, moves to an art fair or gets damaged, nobody can say quickly who owes whom what.
- 03
Marketing that shouts.
Free wine, free admission, free parking. Discount language cheapens the work and attracts the wrong crowd. Galleries need recognition and editorial weight, not coupons, and few know how to earn it.
- 04
Invisible to search and AI answers.
Someone asking where to find a specific artist or a local landscape painter gets a marketplace or a museum. The gallery has no artist pages, no exhibition archive and no structured data to be found with.
What a great art galleries website contains.
The pages that do the selling for this kind of company, and what each one has to do to turn a visit into a call.
- 01
Artist roster.
A page per represented artist with biography, CV, statement, press and available work, which is the page a collector following that artist searches for first.
- 02
Available works.
Every available piece with medium, dimensions, edition, provenance and price or inquiry, filtered by artist, medium and price range, marked sold automatically from inventory.
- 03
Current and upcoming exhibitions.
The show on the wall now and the next two, with install views, the price list on request, opening details and event structured data.
- 04
Exhibition archive.
Every past show kept live with images and press, which builds the gallery's authority with search engines, curators and the artists you want to represent.
- 05
Collector services.
Advisory, framing, installation, shipping, condition reports and payment plans, written for the first-time buyer and the designer sourcing for a client.
- 06
Art fairs.
Which fairs, which booth, which artists, and a way to request a preview or book a booth visit, so fair traffic converts before and after the event.
- 07
Consign or submit work.
How the gallery reviews artists, what representation and consignment involve in plain terms, and a submission form that files portfolios into a review queue instead of the inbox.
- 08
Journal: studio visits and reviews.
Interviews, studio visits and critical writing on artists chosen on merit, giving collectors a reason to return between openings and press a reason to link.
- 09
Visit and private viewings.
Hours, parking, accessibility, and a request form for private viewings and appointment visits, which is how the largest sales usually begin.
Web, marketing, creative and systems for art galleries.
Web
Websites and digital product.
- 01
Artist and artwork pages.
A page per artist with biography, CV, statement and available work, and a page per piece with medium, dimensions, edition, provenance and price or inquiry, all carrying structured data.
- 02
Exhibition archive and events.
Past and current exhibitions kept live as an archive with install views and press, plus openings and talks published with event structured data so they appear in search and calendars.
- 03
Online sales and inquiries.
Buy-now for editions and lower price points, inquire-to-purchase for major works, deposits and layaway where the gallery offers them, all tied to inventory so sold work marks itself sold.
- 04
Editorial and studio visits.
A publishing layer for studio visits, artist interviews and reviews, written to recognize artists on merit. It builds the gallery's authority and gives collectors a reason to return between shows.
- 05
Image pipeline.
Color-managed photography standards, consistent cropping and edge correction, zoomable detail views and correctly sized files, so the work looks as good on a phone as it does in the room.
Marketing
Demand, search and reputation.
- 01
Collector email and openings.
A collector list segmented by artist, medium and price range, preview access for openings, and follow-up after visits, written in the gallery's voice rather than a newsletter template.
- 02
Search and AI-answer visibility.
Artist, medium and locality pages built so a search for a painter or a style in your city returns the gallery, with the entity data the major AI platforms use when they answer.
- 03
Editorial recognition.
Reviews, studio visits and features on local artists chosen on merit, placed on the gallery's site and pitched to regional press, so the gallery becomes the place artists want to be seen.
- 04
Google Business Profile and social.
Hours, exhibitions and install photos on the profile, an Instagram calendar built on the work and the process rather than promotions, and never a post that says free.
- 05
Paid media where it fits.
Selective paid promotion for openings and art fairs to collector audiences, and Shopping campaigns for editions and prints, with the tone and the targeting kept consistent with the room.
Creative
Brand, photography and collateral.
- 01
Gallery identity and typography.
An identity that gets out of the work's way: restrained type, generous white space, consistent labels and wall text, and print standards for cards, catalogs and vinyl lettering.
- 02
Photography and documentation.
A documented standard for shooting flat work, sculpture and installations, including lighting, color targets and file naming, so every piece enters inventory ready to publish.
- 03
Catalogs and exhibition print.
Exhibition catalogs, price lists, artist books and invitations designed to the gallery's system, with print production managed so the paper and finish match the tone.
- 04
Video and studio storytelling.
Short studio-visit and process films that show how the work is made, cut for the site, email and social, with the artist's own voice leading the piece.
Development and systems
Integration, automation and data.
- 01
Consignment back office.
Consignment agreements signed electronically, each piece tracked with split, retail price, insurance value, location and term, and statements generated for artists at every sale and settlement.
- 02
Inventory and sales platform.
Artlogic, ArtCloud or Shopify chosen to fit the program, configured with artists, works, editions and pricing, and connected to the website so availability and prices stay in sync.
- 03
Sales tax, insurance and appraisal.
Sales-tax permit and collection set up correctly for in-person, online and shipped sales, fine-art insurance schedules kept current from inventory, and an appraisal workflow with documented methodology.
- 04
Artsy and marketplace feeds.
Selected work syndicated to Artsy and other marketplaces from the same inventory record, with inquiries routed back to the gallery's inbox and CRM instead of a separate login.
- 05
Point of sale and shipping.
Square at the desk for in-person sales tied to the same inventory, plus crating, shipping and condition-report workflows for sold and loaned work.
Where the demand comes from, and when.
The tools art galleries already run on.
We build to your system of record rather than around it. Leads, calls, jobs and revenue land where your team already works, with the attribution attached.
Artlogic.
Inventory, artist records, invoices and website sync for galleries running a full program.
ArtCloud.
Inventory and CRM with online sales for galleries wanting a lighter, sales-focused stack.
Shopify.
Editions, prints and lower price points sold online with inventory tied to the gallery records.
Artsy.
Syndicated listings and inquiry routing back to the gallery's CRM and inbox.
SignWell or DocuSign.
E-signed consignment agreements, loan forms and bills of sale with countersigned copies filed automatically.
Square.
In-person sales at the desk and at fairs, synced to inventory and accounting.
Google Business Profile.
Exhibitions, hours, photos and events kept current so the gallery shows in local search.
The numbers that matter in art galleries.
- 01
Sell-through per exhibition.
Works sold as a share of works shown by the close of each show, the number that decides whether an artist and a program work.
- 02
Inquiry to sale rate and response time.
How many inquiries become sales and how fast the first reply goes out, because a collector who waits a day is often buying elsewhere.
- 03
Repeat collector share.
The share of sales to collectors who have bought before, the clearest sign that the list and the follow-up are doing their job.
- 04
Days to artist settlement.
Time from a sale clearing to the artist's statement and payment, which is what keeps good artists in the program.
- 05
Cost per new collector at fairs.
Booth, shipping and travel divided by qualified new contacts followed up within a week, so fairs are judged on relationships, not booth sales alone.
Compliance and credentials.
Consignment and trust law.
Many states treat consigned art and its proceeds as trust property held for the artist and require written agreements, so consignment terms and settlement timing must be documented.
Sales tax on shipped and fair sales.
Tax follows the destination and the venue, and resale certificates from designers need to be collected and kept, especially for sales at out-of-state fairs.
Appraisal and authenticity claims.
Value and authenticity statements in marketing must rest on a qualified appraisal or documented provenance, and appraisal services must follow recognized professional standards.
Artist copyright and image use.
Reproducing artwork on the site, in ads and on social requires the artist's permission and proper credit, and it should be written into the consignment agreement.
The art galleries playbook.
- 01
Audit the program and the paperwork.
We review the site, the inventory records, consignment terms, tax setup and insurance schedule, photograph a sample of work, and map where sales, splits and visibility break down.
- 02
Fix the foundation.
Consignment agreements moved to e-sign, inventory loaded into the platform with clean data, sales tax and insurance made correct, photography standard set, and every artist given a proper page.
- 03
Build the site and the publishing layer.
Artist, artwork and exhibition pages with structured data, online sales and inquiry flows, and the editorial section launched with the first studio visits and reviews already published.
- 04
Run the calendar.
Openings, editorial, collector email, Google Business Profile and social managed on a monthly calendar, with a report on inquiries, sales, list growth and search visibility.
Why art galleries choose us.
- 01
We have run the back office.
We built and operated an art and studio publishing property with consignment, a sales-tax permit, e-signed agreements, fine-art insurance and an appraisal practice behind it, so we know the paperwork as well as the pixels.
- 02
We know what not to say.
Galleries win on recognition and taste, not discounts. Our editorial and marketing recognize artists on merit and never shout free, because that is what collectors and artists both respond to.
- 03
Publishing is our craft.
We build and run our own content properties, so artist pages, exhibition archives and editorial are written and structured to be found by search and the major AI platforms, not just to look right.
Reading for art galleries.
- 01
How to Get Your Business Found by AI Search.
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Get More From Your Google Business Profile: Posts, Photos & Messaging.
Local SEO · 14 min readClaiming your profile was the easy part. The businesses that win locally are the ones that keep it alive every week. Here is the ongoing-engagement playbook.
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Small-Business SEO: A Practical Guide.
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How to Tell If Your Marketing Is Actually Working.
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Hiring an agency for a art galleries business.
- how do galleries sell art online
- The ones that do it well pair a serious website with a clean inventory system. Editions and lower price points sell with a buy button; major works sell through an inquiry, a conversation and a signed bill of sale. Photography, provenance and shipping terms on the page remove most of the hesitation. We build the site, connect it to Artlogic, ArtCloud or Shopify, and set up the sales and shipping process behind it.
- Which inventory platform should a gallery use: Artlogic, ArtCloud or Shopify?
- Artlogic suits galleries with a full representation program, art fairs and invoicing needs. ArtCloud is lighter and sales-focused with a built-in CRM. Shopify fits galleries and studios selling editions, prints and objects at volume. Many galleries end up with a primary record system plus Shopify for the shop. We have configured all three and will recommend the one that fits your program, not the one we prefer.
- Can you set up our consignment agreements and back office?
- Yes. We move consignment agreements to e-signature with the split, term, insurance value and return conditions captured as data, load every piece into inventory with location and status, and set up artist statements at every sale. We also help with the sales-tax permit, fine-art insurance scheduling and an appraisal workflow, all of which we have run ourselves.
- Do you photograph the work?
- We set the photography standard and can direct or arrange shoots. For most galleries we document a repeatable process for shooting flat work, sculpture and installation views with color targets and consistent lighting, so your own team can produce publishable images for every new piece without waiting on a photographer to be available.
- What does marketing for a gallery look like without discounts?
- Recognition. Studio visits, reviews and artist features published on your site and pitched to press. A collector list with preview access. Openings and talks published with event data so they appear in search. Google Business Profile and social built on the work and the process. Paid promotion is selective and aimed at collectors. Nothing says free, and nothing looks like a coupon.
Let’s grow your art galleries business.
A short note on where the business is and where it needs to go. A senior partner replies within one business day.
t@theoryroad.com · (512) 222-7805